


You're Welcome

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, Post-Season/Series 02, Shiro isnt missing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-09-30 05:29:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10154888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Lance and Keith are mortal enemies, and their constant snide remarks and bickering are beginning to annoy the other Paladins. The only times they get along are when one Is saving the other's butt.When Shiro and Pidge are taken by Galra soldiers, the remaining three Paladins have to bring them back. Keith has to be used as bait, Hunk's not acting quite right, and Lance has begun confining himself to his room. The three seem to be going crazy, and nothing seems to turn out quite right.But unfortunately, Keith falls into the Galra's hands, Lance blames himself. It's all his fault, and the only way to clear himself of the guilt is to save Keith. But at what cost?t cost?





	1. Once

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I know it's probably stupid. It's not exactly the best story idea I've come up with, but I'm working on it. 
> 
> If you're still willing to read, I hope you enjoy this story. I've been putting a lot of effort into it. 
> 
> (If there are any mispellings or mistakes, please tell me! Thank you)

Lance sighed. Another day of training. The princess had been pushing them harder lately. "There is still much more to do." she'd say. 

Sure they had gotten better at hand to hand combat, but it was much easier just fighting from inside their lions. Less chance of getting hurt. Still, Allura insisted on it. 

Lance pulled on his boots, walked out the door, and into the elevator. Unfortunately, someone else was already in there. 

"Keith." he huffed. 

"Lance. Did you sleep well?" Keith asked quietly. 

"I did, thank you very much." Lance said snappily. 

"What's up with you?" Keith asked. "I thought we were having a nice conversation."

"No conversation is nice with you in it, mullet head."

"Ow." Keith said, giving Lance a fake hurt face.

The elevator stopped, and they both stepped out. They walked down the hall to the training deck in silence, where everyone was waiting for them. 

"Took ya long enough." Pidge muttered. 

"Hey, if you wanna look this good, you gotta put the time into it." Lance replied, slicking his hair back, and shooting finger guns at pidge. 

She rolled her eyes, and turned to Allura.

"So what did you want us to do today?"

"You all are spectacular at fighting with your lions, but your hand to hand combat skills are. . .lacking." Allura said slowly, choosing her words carefully. 

"So, you're going to fight some gladiators today. That's going to be it."

The five paladins breathed sighs of relief, and headed through the door to the training deck. Allura stopped Keith and Lance.  

"Your hand to hand combat skills aren't quite satisfactory either, but your teamworking skills are horrendous. I want you two to work on those. You can either do supervized trust falls for three hours, or the invisible maze."

Lance and Keith shared a look that obviously meant "I dont want to be dropped on the floor over and over again."

"We'll do the maze." Keith replied. 

"Okay but I get to tell you what to do this time." said Lance. "Alrighty Keith, do a 180."

"What?" Keith asked in confusion. 

"Turn around, mullet head!"

"Okay! Okay!" Keith turned around. "What now?"

"Walk forward a little. More. More. STOP."

Keith almost tripped over his own feet, but stopped just short of the wall. 

"Okay, okay, turn right. Oh wait! Left! Left! Sorry."

"Dude can you learn your directions?" Keith yelled. 

"Sorry! Sorry! Okay. Turn left and. . . walk forward like, four steps."

Keith followed Lance's instructions carefully, and stopped. 

"Turn right, then right again."

Keith carefully followed his instructions but ran face first into a wall. 

"Oh! Sorry! I meant left! It's hard to remember which direction is which for you."

Keith sounded almost like he was growling but it was hard to tell from so far away. 

"Sorry, uh. . . go left, and forward."

Keith did as Lance said without a hitch. 

"Okay now go forward and turn right."

Keith took one step and ran into a wall. 

"Lance! What's the problem? Why can't you get the instructions right?"

"Well I'm sorry for trying."

"Boys, it's time to stop."

Lance and Keith borh looked at Allura, who had evidentally been watching the whole time. 

"You have shown no progress and we've been here nearly an hour! Why are you perpetually arguing?"

Lance and Keith looked at each other. Keith furrowed his brow. 

Allura sighed. "Just go help the others fight the gladiators." "Ugh I'm so hungry I could eat like, three horses." Hunk grumbled. 

"Me too!" Lance groaned. "You got any food Coran?"

"Actually, I've made lunch for everyone!" Coran set the bowls of slime in front of them. 

They all ate ravenously.

"It's scary just how hungry I was." Pidge said through a mouth full of food.

"Pidge, manners." Shiro scolded. 

"Thanks, dad."

"Sorry, but your father would've wanted you to keep some good manners."

Pidge rolled her eyes. After lunch, the paladins were given sone free time. Lance wanted to "catch some Zs" but Hunk and Pidge wanted to play a game, and insisted Lance join them. Keith refused to join, but stayed and watched anyway. "Go to jail, dweeb!"

Hunk groaned. "This is the third time. I DON'T DESERVE THIS!" 

Lance was winning. Hunk had just gone to jail for the third time, and Pidge was using her money strategically, only buying properties that would bring in the most revenue. But Lance, having bought every property he landed on, was slowly growing his fortune, and slowly depleting theirs. 

"Y'know, I think it's kind of funny." Keith interjected. 

"What's funny?" Hunk asked. 

"That we're on an alien ship and they have monopoly, a game made on Earth."

"Maybe it's just that famous." Lance suggested. 

"Or maybe it's a totally different game we just took to be monopoly." Pidge offered. 

"Doubtful." Keith said, with a bored look on his face. 

The three returned to their game. Hunk paid 50 dollars to get out of jail, and continued on his path. Unfortunately, he landed himself right on Lance's property. Not only that, but one of the two on the board with a hotel. 

"Hah! Okay Hunk, that'll be. . ." Lance checked the card. "876 dollars!"

"I don't even have that much!" Hunk cried. 

"Mortgage some properties!"

Unfortunately, Hunk spent most of this game in jail, or getting unlucky chance cards, so he only had a couple properties. 

"Okay after mortgaging all my properties that brings me to about 400 dollars."

"Alrighty, give me all you've got, and you're out." Lance said triumphantly. 

Hunk sighed and handed over the rest of his money. 

"Pidge, kick his butt for me." Hunk muttered. 

Keith chuckled quietly, and Lance glared at him. 

"Butt out mullet head."

"Is that the only insult you have?" Keith asked, still chuckling. 

"Well. . . it's just the best one!"

"That's pretty weak, dude."

"Shut up!" Lance replied, avoiding Keith's gaze. He looked embarrassed. 

Lance cleared his throat and turned back to the game. They were there for quite a while. Keith and Hunk had gone to bed by the time Pidge slowly procured all of Lance's money. 

"I was beating you so bad! How could you possibly have won?"

"You just gotta plan." she replied, smirking. "All it takes is strategy."

After cleaning the game up, they both went to their rooms. Lance was exhausted, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He woke up at three am to the sound of a door opening and closing. 

Lance got up and peeked out the door to his room. He saw Keith, creeping down the hallway in his socks. Lance furrowed his brow, and followed him quietly. 

Keith headed to the elevator. Lance decided to take the stairs. He didnt want to lose track of Keith, but he couldn't just get in with him. That defeats the purpose of stalking. 

He watched the elevator lights and saw that he was going down. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could without tripping. He stopped two floors down when he heard Keith padding down the hallway. 

"Where is he going?" Lance murmured, following quietly. 

Kieth stopped at one door. The door to the training deck. He opened the door as quietly as he could, and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. 

Lance's curiosity only grew. 'What is that guy doing?' He thought. 

Lance cracked the door open and peeked in. Keith was standing in the middle of the room, his back to Lance. He seemed like he was about to start a fight with a gladiator.

"Secret training, huh?" Lance muttered. He kept quiet, not wanting to alert Keith of his presence. Not yet.

Two gladiators were dropped from the ceiling, and started jumping towards Keith. Keith avoided the swing of its staff, and kicked it back. 

Lance cringed. That gladiator was made of metal, surely it hurt his foot to kick. He threw a punch, but the gladiator dodged it. Keith was about to punch again, but he got knocked off his feet by the other gladiator. 

"Damn, forgot about that one." he muttered just loud enough for lance to hear. 

He got to his feet, and pulled out his knife. He sliced towards the first gladiator, then brought his fist around to the other. The knife missed, but the punch landed on the gladiator's chest. 

It didn't seen to faze it much, and it kept swinging at Keith. It landed a blow on Keith's face, and his nose started to bleed. 

He wiped the blood away and kept fighting. Before long, the gladiators had nearly beat him tender. Sure Kieth was good at fighting, but these were two gladiators obviously set on a higher level than normal. Kieth probably thought he was weak or something stupid like that. 

Lance scoffed. Keith was probably like, the third strongest fighter. After Shiro and himself of course. But it looked like Keith wasn't doing too well, so Lance decided he should probably step in and help. Just as Keith got knocked to the floor again, Lance jumped in and kept a gladiator from hitting him. 

"Keith! Get up!"

"Lance? What are you doing here? I don't need any help, I've got this!"

Lance rolled his eyes. 

"End training sequence." he called. The gladiators turned off and fell through the floor. Lance turned back to look at Keith. 

"Keith, you obviously don't, I just watched you get your butt handed to you. What level are these things set on? God tier?"

"I don't know. I tried to set it to the highest, but I dunno if that actually was the highest."

"You're an idiot."

"I'm smarter than you, dummy."

"Hey! I just saved your life!"

"Did not!" Keith argued. "I had it! I could've easily beat them."

Lance gave him an annoyed look, and Keith furrowed his brow. 

"You should go back to sleep. It's like 4am."

Keith gave Lance a curt nod, not meeting his eyes. The two of them walked back to the elevator. 

"Thanks." Keith muttered. "You're right, I probably would've gotten hurt."

"Oh, what was that? Can you say that again?" Lance asked cheerfully."

"Thank you." Keith said, looking at Lance this time. "I probably would've gotten hurt, like you said."

Keith huffed, crossed his arms, and was silent the rest of the elevator ride. When the doors slid open, the two of them walked down the hall towards their rooms. 

"Good night, Keith." Lance said gently. 

Keith glanced at him. "You too."

They turned and walked to their rooms without another word. The next morning, Keith climbed out of bed feeling sore. He had to think to remember what exactly had happened. His head hurt a lot, and his whole body ached. 

"I guess I strained myself more than I thought." he mumbled to himself. 

He stood up, stretching his muscles in an attempt to ease the pain. He groaned, and left the room, heading to the dining table. Everyone was already eating, including Lance. Keith sat down and grunted in pain. 

"Are you okay?" Lance asked. 

"My body is just a little sore."

"Hah, no kidding." he replied. "You took quite a beating."

"Um, are we supposed to know what you're talking about?" Hunk asked obliviously. 

"Oh yeah, Keith got up at three am to fight a gladiator that kicked his butt."

Keith kept his head down, but his ears went bright red. 

"Keith? Are you alright?" Shiro asked. 

"Yeah, I'm uh. . . just a little sore." he said, glaring at Lance

Kieth wasn't particularly hungry, and just poked his food for a while. Lance met his gaze from across the table, but Keith looked away after a moment. 

"I'm done. Are we doing training today?" he asked, pushing away his bowl.

"No, but we got a distress call overnight. We're going to check it out." Shiro replied. 

"Alright. I'll see you later." 

Keith left the room, and headed down the hall. Keith sighed. He was sore, and felt like he was coming down with a fever. On top of that, he was exhausted. Exhaustion he could deal with. He had been doing late night training for a while. Only last night had he cranked up the difficulty so high. 

"It's my fault." he muttered. "I did this to myself."

Keith fell back onto his bed. 

"At least Lance was there to tell me when to stop. I'd probably be worse off right now if not for him."

At one point Keith fell asleep. He woke up to someone knocking on his door. 

"Keith? Are you hungry? Coran just served dinner."

"Dinner? But we just had breakfast!"

"Dude, you've been asleep all day." Lance opened the door.

"What about that distress call?"

"Taken care of. It wasn't a really big deal. Some guys ran out of fuel and got stuck on an empty planet."

"You should've woken me up. I could've helped."

"There was nothing really to do. Plus, it looks like you needed that sleep."

"Well now I'll be up all night."

"You can do more secret training." Lance joked. 

Keith looked away. 

"Well it's not very secret anymore. . ."

"Oh yeah. . . sorry." Lance replied awkwardly. 

Keith didn't say anything. 

"Forget it."

Keith shook his head and pushed past Lance into the hallway. 

"You coming?"

Lance was taken aback, but quickly regained his composure. 

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

They both walked down the hall to the dining room.

"It seems like all I do is eat and sleep." Keith muttered. 

"At least today you do." Pidge replied, laughing. 

Keith sighed and sat down. He scooped some of the green slime into his mouth, and realized just how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. He ate all the slime, which no one but hunk had accomplished before due to Coran's large portions. 

"Wow you sure were hungry, huh Keithy-boy?" Lance asked with a grin. 

"Don't call me that." Keith snapped. 

"What, Keithy-boy?" Lance asked. "You don't like being called Keithy-boy, Keithy-boy?"

Keith rolled his eyes, and stood up.

"Good night guys. See you tomorrow."

Lance followed him out the room with his eyes. There was a minute of silence while lance finished up his slime. 

"Well, I'm gonna go to bed too." he said, standing up and stretching. 

"Hold on a sec, Lance." Shiro called before he could leave the room. 

"I'm not sure what exactly happened last night, but I think it was a good thing. You seem to be getting along a little better with Keith."

"And?" Lance asked tiredly. 

"And do it again. If it can help your relationship, it can help everybody."

Lance turned and left the room, imitating Shiro with his hand. "So, how did you sleep?" Lance asked the next morning across the breakfast table. 

"Okay, I guess." Keith replied half-heartedly.

Keith met Lance's eyes and saw that he was genuinely curious. 

"I slept. Is that good enough?"

"I guess." Lance shrugged. 

"Did you guys. . . do something last night?" Pidge asked with a smirk.

They were both silent for a moment. 

"If by 'something' you mean sleeping, then yes. Yes we did." Lance replied. 

"Alright. If you say so."

"Please no. Whatever you think happened, didn't." Keith mumbled. 

Pidge put her hands up in surrender, still smiling. 

After everyone had returned to their food, Keith and Lance shared a glance across the table. 

'What do you think she means?' Keith mouthed. 

Lance shrugged. 'Probably something scandalous.'

Keith chuckled softly. 

"Are you laughing at me?" Hunk asked. "You think my dream of making out with Coran is funny? Because I find it rather disturbing."

"Oh wow. Clearly, I should be paying attention to your conversations, because this is hilarious." Lance replied with a smirk, leaning in Hunk's direction. 

Keith rolled his eyes. 

"Okay, Hunk's weird dreams aside. . ." Shiro began.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Hunk whispered in embarrassment. 

". . .we shouldn't spend our days doing nothing, Keith."

Keith snapped back to reality and jumped. 

"Who, me? Oh sorry Shiro, it's not like my body was physically exhausted." Keith replied sarcastically. 

"I get that you needed that day, but we can't get used to that. Zarkon may be gone, but the universe will always have something threatening it."

"That's a nice thought, thank's for that Shiro. Now we know we're in a constant state of peril." Hunk mumbled. 

"You're welcome. It's important to know of possible dangers beforehand."

Hunk rolled his eyes and smiled at Pidge, who was laughing inwardly. There was a moment of comfortable silence, but it was interrupted by a loud crash, and the whole room shaking. 

Allura's voice rang trough the room. "Paladins you must hide! I have reason to belive an enemy may be coming aboard. I believe they'd prefer to take you over the lions. Stay safe and hidden!"

Allura's voice cut off and everyone went scrambling. Lance was the first out the door. Keith watched him slam the door open and sprint down the hall. 

'Scaredy-cat.' Keith thought. 

He moved at a calm pace out the door and down the hall. He had to keep calm to show he was better at emergency situations than Lance. In his search, he found a small fissure in the wall. It looked like it was built for hiding. It was roughly the size of Allura, maybe a little bigger, and curved back so whoever were to use it would be completely hidden unless you knew where to look. 

Keith triumphantly smirked. He found quite possibly the best hiding place on the ship. He quickly slid his body through the crack sideways until he was obscurred from possible view. 

He realised how on edge he had been, and released his breath. He turned to look around and came face to face with Lance. Lance's cheeks were puffed out and he looked annoyed. He was probably trying to refrain from speaking. 

"Dude you're in my space." he whispered. 

"I found this on my own. I should be allowed to use it." Keith replied. 

"Except I was already here. Go get your own hidey crack!"

"Shhh." Keith threw his hand over his mouth. "Lance we're trying to hide. That means be quiet." 

Lance sighed and kept quiet. Keith removed his hand, but realized there wasn't really enough space to move it. Keith was uncomfortably aware of how close he and Lance were. He could smell his breath, which was like alien goo, filling the room. 

Lance was a couple inches taller and his head brushed the top of the crack. His neck was bent so his head wouldn't hit the ceiling. Keith decided that the only place to put his hand was draped across lance's shoulder. Lance jumped and turned towards Keith, but Keith was listening intently. 

"Listen, Mull-"

"Shh." Keith covered Lance's mouth. "Listen."

The two of them listened closely, and could hear a conversation. 

"Have you seen any of them?"

"No. They appear to all have gone into hiding."

"Well send your troops to look. We especially want the red paladin."

Lance could feel Keith tense up agaist him. His breath caught. Keith made no noise whatsoever. 

"And the others?"

"Take them if you find them, but like I said, the red paladin is our top priority."

No more words were exchanged before Keith heard their footsteps walking away. 

"I guess we're in here for the long run."

Lance sighed exasperatedly, obviously not exited for the quality time they now had to spend together. After about half an hour, Lance started to go nuts. 

"Forget it. I'm turning myself in!" 

He tried to shove past, but Keith, being on the outside, could easily keep him in. 

"Nobody is turning themselves, or any body else in. We just gotta tough it out."

Lance groaned. "But I don't wanna! I dont wanna spend another moment crammed in this stupid hole with you!"

"That's not very nice. What happened to 'buddy?'"

"I was just trying to make friends with you!"

"Obviously it didn't work."

Lance looked at Keith, and groaned again. 

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep. Wake me up if I snore too loud or something."

Lance settled himself a bit. He was standing up, and uncomfortably close to Keith, but who knew when the intruders would give up their search? Maybe never. Lance internally screamed at the idea of being stuck in this crack with Keith forever, but he had to keep cool. 

He closed his eyes and drifted into a light sleep. Keith, who had fallen asleep out of boredom, awoke with a start. 

"Paladins? Everyone still on board needs to meet on the main deck. We need to make sure we have everyone." It was Allura. 

Keith shook Lance, who was snoring loudly, awake. 

"The princess wants a headcount. She says the coast is clear."

The two of them slid out the crack and walked down the hall. 'Sweet open space!' Keith thought, taking as much space in his strides as possible. Lance seemed to have the same idea. 

They headed to the main deck, and saw Allura and Coran standing there. 

"Oh good, you two are okay!" Allura hurried towards them and hugged them both. 

"I was worried they had gotten you."

"Don't worry. We both found a great hidey-hole." Lance replied. 

Allura sighed with relief, but it was short lived. The others still hadn't shown up. After about five more minutes, Hunk burst in the room.

"They took them! The Galra that were here! They took Pidge and Shiro!"


	2. Twice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for me to update! I write about a fourth of a chapter every week (approximately 1000 words) because I'm super lazy and bad at sticking to things. I'll try to get the next part out quicker!

They hadn't even given themselves five minutes to recollect and gather their wits, they were already planning how to rescue Pidge and Shiro.

"So first, we have to figure out who exactly took them." In the absence of Shiro, Keith was supposed to take charge, but Hunk seemed to feel responsible.

"I think they were Galra." Keith replied. "Two of them were near where I was hiding. They said that. . .they said they were looking for. . .for me specifically."

"Why would they be looking for you, but take Pidge and Shiro?" Allura questioned.

"Well, they said to take any paladins they find, but Keith was their main target." Lance interjected, obviously having heard the conversation as well.

Allura sighed. "What do you propose we do?"

Everyone was silent.

"Well. . . we could use Keith as bait. If they were looking for him in particular, they'd probably want to get him." Hunk thought out loud.

Keith was reluctant to agree, but there weren't many options.

"He's right, that's our best bet."

"Okay, in that case, what's your plan?" Asked Allura

Keith started. "My what?"

"Plan, Keith. She said plan. P-L-A-N." Lance remarked.

"Okay, I got it." He snapped. He turned back to look at Allura and the others. "Honestly, I don't have a plan. . ."

A worried look flashed across Hunk's face, but he stifled it with a patient smile.

"We can work out a plan together." Allura cut in. "In the meantime, I'm going to try to track down the ship that took them."

Allura turned to her control panel, telling Coran idly to give them some food. Coran whipped up a quick meal of green slime, as per usual. Keith wasn't particularly hungry, but Lance ate ravenously. In his defense, he had been trapped in a crack in the wall for who knows how long. With his least favorite paladin, no less.

Dinner was uncomfortable. Between Keith and Lance's silence, and Hunk's attempts at making small talk, it proved awkward. Without Pidge and Shiro, the table was so lonely. Two people made quite a difference.

"So, where did you guys hide? It must've been good since you didn't get caught. I hid in the floor. There are these loose panels over on the training deck with plenty of space. It was probably intended to be a hiding place."

"I found this crack in the wall. I think it was also made for hiding."

"I found it first!" Lance interjected. "It was big enough for one person, but Keith just squeezed himself in there like the boneless fish he is."

Keith raised an eyebrow, but promptly lowered it when Lance furrowed his.

Hunk let out a short, laughing breath. Lance looked sideways at him, annoyed.

"Oh man." Hunk yawned. "I'm bushed. I'm gonna head to bed. You guys should too."

"Yeah, we will." Keith started. "Eventually."

 

When Keith finally went to bed, it was hours after Hunk had left. He left towards his room shortly after, but he paced for at least an hour. He was worried for Shiro and Pidge's safety. If something happened to them, it'd be all Keith's fault.

Soon enough, he calmed down, and climbed into bed. He hadn't realized how tired he was.

"Aren't naps supposed to make you less tired?" He mumbled to himself, thinking back to earlier that day. Then he realized he hadn't actually slept much. He had stood next to Lance for hours. He remembered the feeling of Lance's hot breath tickling his hair. He remembered lance being pressed uncomfortably close, and his head falling on Keith's shoulder as he slept, drooling across his sleeve.

It made it hard for Keith to think. When he was trying to keep his brain busy, Lance's breath would tickle his neck, and distract him. When he tried to fall asleep, the warmth of Lance's body would keep him awake. It made life just a little harder. He had only slept for what felt like ten minutes, though it must have been able least a couple hours.

For this reason, Keith was exhausted. He flopped onto his bed, closed his eyes and, without a loudly snoring Lance to keep him awake, fell asleep.

 

Lance hadn't been completely asleep the whole time. Still he'd gotten enough that he wasn't tired yet. Every time he had woken up while they were in the crack, Keith had glanced at him, frowning. Lance would just shrug it off, and try to go back to sleep.

Lance didn't want to lie awake in the darkness, so he fished around the bookshelf for some reading material.

"Surely they have comic books on Altea. . ." He muttered, thumbing through the thin volumes of guide books and encyclopedias. Nothing even remotely entertaining. After another minute, he came across a book that caught his eye. It was about an inch thick, and wrapped with a heavy paper.

Lance pulled the book off the shelf, and inspected the front. He peeled back the paper to see a shiny blue cover. It almost seemed to glow in the blue light of Lance's room.

Lance returned to his bed, the book still clutched in his hands, half wrapped in paper. When he had settled, he finished unwrapping the book. It looked almost as though it had scales. Scrawled across the cover in thick curly letters were the words "Arek's Journal."

"Arek?" Lance mumbled softly, turning the book over and over. He felt almost scared to open it. It seemed to hold such significance. Lance didn't think it'd be appropriate to just rip it open and start reading. Then again, Lance had never been the type to follow rules.

He opened the book to the first page. The smell of ink and old paper assailed his nose. The ink looked quite old, and was fading. In the same handwriting as the title, there was This journal belongs to Arek. If found, please return.

Lance got a feeling of familiarity, as if this person were related to him in some way.

His curiosity burning, Lance turned the page and began to read.

 

 

Keith woke up with a start when something smashed into his door.

He climbed out of bed, and cracked it open to see who it was. Hunk was on the ground, snoring loudly.

"Hunk?" Keith mumbled. He had been expecting Lance. Smashing into his door at 2am is something the blue paladin would do.

Keith tried to pull Hunk into a sitting position. His being sprawled across the ground made Keith nervous. He wasn't quite sure why.

Hunk proved quite heavy, but Keith got him up eventually.

Keith tried to wake him up in every way he knew, but Hunk slept like a stone.

It was quite odd. Why had he smashed into the door? Why did he look like he'd been asleep for hours? Did Hunk usually sleepwalk?

Eventually, Keith resorted to just slapping Hunk across the face.

He jumped awake, looking confused.

"What happened? Why does my head hurt? Why am I outside your room?"

"Calm down, Hunk. It's okay. I think you were sleepwalking, and you crashed into my door."

"I-I dont usually sleepwalk. I've never-"

Hunk's voice died and he shuddered a bit.

"I'm okay. It's not that strange."

Keith raised an eyebrow. Hunk had something bothering him, and Keith was a little worried for his friend.

"Im fine, I'll just go back to bed."

Keith kept his mouth shut and watched hunk climb to his feet, and walk back down the hall.

Keith lingered, still kneeling on the ground for a moment. He was about to go back to bed when he heard soft laughter from across the hall.

Who else is up at 2am? Keith thought. With a sigh, Keith realised it was Lance.

Keith, curiosity piqued, decided to open the door just a crack.

Lance was sitting on his bed reading a book. From this far away, Keith couldn't tell anything about it, but Lance seemed to be having fun.

Keith felt the corners of his mouth quirk up.

Lance glanced up from his reading, noticed Keith, and scowled. "What are you doing in here?"

Keith glanced down at the book, and Lance, following his gaze, hastily shoved it under his pillow.

"What're you reading?" he asked.

"None of your business." Lance snapped defensively.

"Okay, okay," Keith put his hands up in surrender. "I'll just go."

"Would you?"

Keith rolled his eyes and left Lance to his reading.

 

The next morning, Lance wasn't at breakfast.

"Should someone. . . ?" Keith began.

"I'll check on him." Hunk mumbled, and left the room.

Keith was left, sitting at the table alone.

Coran had found something similar to cereal he called "grain meal and sweetener." It was sugary and cold, little clumps of grain floating around in a bowl of milk. Kaltenecker was a useful ally when you're in space, far from any other cows.

"Sleeping." Hunk muttered, reentering the room.

Keith dropped his spoon and pushed the bowl away, looking in Hunk's direction.

"I tried to wake him up, but he looked exhausted. He looks like he needs a lot of sleep."

"I think he stayed up late reading."

"Lance?" Hunk snorted. "Reading? No way."

Keith chuckled.

Allura had come up with a plan. She wanted it to begin at noon. There were still two hours until then, but Keith felt like he had no time. She hadn't fully explained the plan, but he might be used as bait. If something went wrong, Keith would be the first to be caught, or even killed. It worried him more than he'd like to admit.

The way he saw it, he only had two hours of guaranteed life left. He shuddered at the thought.

Around 10:30 or so, Lance woke up. He looked exhausted, bags under his eyes, and a drowsy slur in his voice.

"How late did you stay up?"

Lance took a long time to respond. ". . . what?"

"I think he's still asleep." Hunk mumbled, chuckling to himself.

Keith sighed. "How. . . late. . . did you. . . stay up?" he pronounced every syllable carefully and clearly.

"Uh. . . I was reading 'till like. . . seven."

"A.M.? Dude that's not healthy!"

"I know, I know, I just. . . what were we talking about?" he murmured.

Keith sighed. "Go back to sleep."

"But. . .we have a mission!"

"Just go back to sleep. You'll thank me later.".

Lance didn't seem to have any snide remarks, so he just gave an annoyed look and headed back to his room.

He wouldn't admit it, but Lance was actually really grateful. He just wanted to sleep for a decade, not go on this dangerous mission to save Pidge and Shiro.

That little blue book had kept him up all night reading, which is not something he often does.

Arek was the first blue paladin. When Lance learned this, he had a freak out. He has access to a window into the past. He could hear all the stories of Arek's friends, the old paladins. He also got to hear about Zarkon.

He kept the information from everybody. Yes, it wasn't the best idea, since the late leader of the Galra empire was involved, but Lance liked having a secret. It felt so personal. He could imagine he was Arek.

Lance laid back into his pillow and closed his eyes.

Thanks, Keith. He thought. More time to sleep was much appreciated.

Lance drifted off, thinking absently that he'd have to thank that dumb mullet in person.

 

Keith and Hunk were suited up, all ready to recapture Shiro and Pidge. It would be difficult, as they only had two paladins, and couldn't form voltron.

In an emergency, they could wake up Lance, and Allura and Coran could attempt to pilot the other lions, but that wasn't guaranteed to even work.

The two of them raced to their hangars. The plan was for Hunk to distract. He was to destroy their weapons so they'd be defenseless from the castle's fire.

Keith, meanwhile, was going to sneak into the ship, and attempt to retrieve Pidge and Shiro. Hunk was able to find out where they were being kept, but Keith wasn't sure how in the slightest.

"Are you ready?" Hunk asked.

Keith swallowed dryly. He was nervous. They had so little backup. Things could go wrong so easily!

Despite his fear, Keith bit his lip and croaked out a small affirmation.

"Then let's do this."

 

Hunk and Keith weren't stealthy enough. They were spotted quickly, but that didn't deter them.

Keith zipped out of sight as fast as the red lion could take him, which was pretty fast.

Hunk, as planned, stayed and worked on their defenses. The only way to keep the Galra efforts off of Keith was to give them something else to focus on. Meaning the castle's fire.

It was going well, considering the plan hadn't gone perfectly at first. Hunk rammed the yellow lion into the canon, knocking a large dent in the metal.

"Hunk?" Keith murmured through his headset.

"Yeah, Keith, I'm here. What's up?"

"Where are Shiro and Pidge being held?"

"They're in the holding chambers. Two floors down from where you entered, on the south side."

"Does south exist in space?" Keith asked confusedly.

"Sure does. Your helmet should have a compass."

Keith was silent for a moment, most likely checking the compass.

"Okay I'm heading that way. Keep them off me."

"Will do." Hunk replied, going back to smashing at the cannons.

Galra soldiers filtered off of the ship, attempting to repair the cannon.

Meanwhile, Keith was running down a hallway, praying to whatever god is out there that he wouldn't encounter any Galra.

Luckily, he reached the holding chambers without incident. It was almost suspicious how little guards and sentries were around.

Three figures sat, hunched over in the corner of the room. There were no walls or bars, so Keith was confused. He wanted to know how the chamber worked. He noticed glowing fissures in the walls on either side. He stuck out his arm, and felt electricity crackling around it. It was just a slight tickle, but he was sure if you had the proper trigger, it could deal some damage.

"That's amazing." He whispered.

One of the figure's head shot up. Shiro looked at him with wide eyes.

"Keith?" He hissed quietly.

"Shiro! Are you okay" Keith rushed up to him, and knelt by his side.

Shiro looked mostly unscathed, save for a purple bruise on his forehead. He looked tired and uncomfortable, but at least he was alive.

Keith glanced over and saw Pidge. She was leaning on Shiro's shoulder. She wasn't in quite as good shape as Shiro. she had more bruises covering her face, and her left eye was swollen shut. There was dried blood that had welled at the corner of her mouth, and smears of blood across her face, probably from a nosebleed.

"What happened to Pidge?" Keith asked, concerned.

"She resisted quite a bit more than me. The Galra thought it would be suitable to beat up a child for disobeying." He replied bitterly.

Keith glanced at the third figure and jumped. There, sitting hunched over with his arms wrapped around his legs, was the softly snoring body of Hunk.

"Hunk? What's he doing here?" Keith asked a little too loudly.

Shiro winced. "He was captured with us. How could you not know that?"

"B-but Hunk was with us! He helped me get in the ship!"

Keith's brain worked fast. He put two and two together and got to his feet.

"Shiro, Take Pidge and Hunk get out as fast as you can."

"The handcuffs!" He replied, gesturing with his cuffed hands. "We can't get past the barrier with them on."

Keith looked around frantically. On the wall outside the chamber was a small glowing green button labeled "Cuffs." Suspiciously easy. He strode over quickly and slammed the button. All three pairs of handcuffs opened and dropped off the captives' wrists.

"Get Pidge up! Hurry!" Keith ordered, turning to Hunk and waking him up.

He ushered the three out, and they started to run.

"I brought the red lion. If they get me, make sure they don't get it, okay?" Keith Asked frantically.

Shiro nodded. It was a good thing Shiro was strong, because Pidge was incredibly weak and needed to be carried. The three of them ran. Keith could hear sounds of feet stomping. He cursed under his breath. The Galra were coming for him. He could only hope they would focus on him, and his friends could leave.

"Keith! You need to get out of there!" Allura's voice rang through his ears. "Hunk wasn't the real Hunk, It was a trap!"

"I know, princess. I've got the others, we're on our way out."

They turned a corner, and they could see the red lion. Keith almost cheered. The Galra weren't even close! Except they were. Dozens of troops spilled into the corridor from a connected hallway.

Shiro tried to stop, but Keith gave him a shove as hard as he could.

"Keep going! I'm pretty sure they're after me!"

"What? Why-" Shiro started, but he didn't get to hear the answer because the Galra soldiers had closed the gap between them.

"Just get back to the ship!" Keith yelled. "I'll. . . I'll get out somehow. . ."

He heard a concerned yell, but it was drowned out by all the Galra soldiers.

"What a predicament." He muttered, just before two Galra soldiers gripped him by the arms.

Keith pulled this way and that, but the soldiers' grips were strong. A tall Galra strode up to greet him.

"Ah, Keith. I've been waiting for you." His smile was like honey but his eyes glared daggers. "Cuff him."

The Galra soldiers forced his hands into handcuffs, and Keith sighed. He was trapped.

"What? Why do you want me? Of all people?" He grumbled.

The Galra laughed softly.

"Because of your mother."

Keith's head shot up to look directly at him. "M-my mother?"

"Y'know. . .The notorious Galra traitor?"

"Traitor?"

"Oh yeah, she went to Earth without permission, fell in love with a human, and had a child! Insufferable!" He threw his arms up in anger. "Her crimes aside, she was punished with death, but not by my orders. She definitely deserved to suffer more. Since she's dead, and your father has long since disappeared, you're the only person who can serve her punishment."

Keith scoffed. "Put me to work. Beat me up. I don't care. At least my friends are safe."

The Galra smirked. "You'll wish it was your friends here instead."

"Doubt it."

"You haven't even see what we have in store yet."

Keith faltered. How bad could it really be? The Galra turned and began to walk away.

"Take him to the cells." He said simply, waving a hand absently.

The soldiers started to move, pulling Keith along with them. They pushed him past the electrical barrier and pressed a button to activate the cuffs.

After they left, Keith sank to the floor. and put his head in his hands.

"How could I have gotten myself into this?"

 

 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?" Lance cried.

Shiro and Pidge had come back, but Keith had not.

"Can you guys not succeed on a mission without me?" He threw his hands up in anger.

"Lance," Allura started cautiously. "A Galra soldier disguised himself as Hunk, there was almost no way to succeed. He knew of all our plans."

Hunk shuddered. "I'm very uncomfortable with the idea that a purple cat person was walking around with my face."

"Galra." Shiro corrected. "They aren't cat people."

Hunk rolled his eyes.

Lance shook his head. "So what are we gonna do? We can't just leave him!"

"We're not going to!" Allura countered, pulling her hands from the control panel, and gesticulating wildly in Lance's direction. "We're going to get him back." She huffed and returned to the panel. "We have to locate the ship again. As soon as it got him, it left. Our main problem right now is-"

"Finding the ship I know!" Lance interrupted.

Allura cleared her throat. "We need to figure out why they took Keith, over Shiro, Pidge and Hunk. And the red lion, for that matter!"

"Maybe they don't want the lions anymore." Pidge supplied. "I mean, Zarkon is gone, why would they want them anymore?."

"You might be on to something." Shiro said softly. "But whoever is in power now, wants Keith, and we need to know why."

"Could it have something to do with the fact that he's, y'know, Galra?" Hunk asked hesitantly, shooting a glance at Allura.

"Hes only some percentage Galra. His dad was for sure human." Shiro corrected again. "But yes, Hunk. That's pretty likely."

Lance ran a hand through his messy hair. "So. . .do we have a plan? Or are we just going to sit here?"

"We're going to work on a plan." Allura spoke slowly, as if trying to keep Lance waiting. "We need to gather more information."

Lance groaned, and left the room.

"Somebody should talk to him." Pidge mused.

There was moment of silence. Everybody looked to someone else. Mostly Hunk. He sighed. "Okay, I'll do it." Hunk trudged off in the direction Lance had left.

 

Keith sat in silence for what felt like days. His stomach started growling. He tried to sleep at one point, but he was super uncomfortable. The floor was cold and hard. He was also worried about what exactly that Galra had in store. He said it would be horrible. 

At least my friends are safe. He thought to himself dejectedly.

He sat for probably another hour before a sentry came down the hall. He was holding a small remote with a green button. He pressed it, and the chain of sparks between the cuffs dropped. Keith supposed he deactivated them temporarily so he could get through the field. The sentry grabbed Keith's arm, and pulled him down the hall. Keith hoped faintly that they would give him some food.

They didn't give him any. The sentry pulled him down a dark corridor, and through a heavy wrought-iron door. He sat Keith in a metal chair in the middle of the room, and left without a word.

After a minute or so of silence, a voice rang through the room. "Do you have any statements to make before we begin the experiment?"

It was the same voice as the Galra who had ordered him seized. He was probably high in the ranks, maybe even the boss of the ship.

"Yeah, two things. Who are you, and what experiment?"

Keith could hear the Galra's soft laugh. "Well, I am known as Prince Lotor. And this experiment? It's to see how well the human body handles electricity."

Keith faltered. Electricity? He hadn't touched the barrier specifically because he did NOT like electricity. Keith tried to stand, but found his handcuffs connected to the arms, probably by some incredibly powerful magnet, or something of the sort.

"Wh-what? That's inhumane!" Keith called frantically. He struggled against his bonds, trying desperately to free himself.

"Since when are we humans?" Lotor replied. "Humane doesn't apply to us."

Keith kept pulling. His wrists were getting red and sore, but he had NO interest in getting electrocuted.

Prince Lotor laughed again. "Let's start with something gentle. We'll turn the power to three."

Keith heard a crank turn loudly, and a button was pressed. Bright yellow arcs of electricity bounced off the walls, and coursed through Keith. It felt like someone was forcing lava through his veins rather than blood.

He could hear yelling, and with a start he realized it was his own. Keith's senses were all dulled. He could barely see, and everything sounded like it was miles away. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.

"Record the data." Keith could barely hear it. His senses were still dulled.

Lotor's voice rang through the room, and Keith's senses started to come back.

"How do you feel now?"

Keith didn't answer for a moment, wracking his brain for a good response. It was hard to think with all the buzzing in his ears.

"Fuzzy." he rasped. His voice didn't want to work either. "Everything is on fire."

Lotor laughed. "Good! We'll come back to this next week."

"Next week?" He asked in horror. "I have to come back and do this again?"

"Oh yes, you have to do this every week. Among other things. It's what your mother would've gotten."

Keith gritted his teeth. He found the cuffs had been released from the chair and jumped to his feet. He immediately came crashing to the ground. The last thing he saw before blacking out were the boots of a Galra sentry.

 

Lance was sitting on his bed, Arek's book lying open a foot away.

Hunk walked in the room, and sat down next to him.

"Are you okay, buddy?" He asked.

"No! I feel awful! If only I'd been on that mission! I could've helped! Instead I was-" He kicked at Hunk's arm. "-Sleeping."

He put his head in his hands. "I feel so bad, it's all my fault. Sure, I don't like the guy, but I didn't want him captured!"

Hunk smiled gently. "Maybe you like him more than you thought."

"Hunk, if you're implying that I'm in love with him, I will forcefully kick you from my room. Literally."

Hunk laughed. "No, I mean maybe you want to be friends with him."

Lance huffed. "No, I just don't want him hurt. That's what a good friend would do."

"That's true." Hunk shrugged. "I'll take your word for it."

Lance was silent, his head still in his hands.

"You want a hug, buddy?" Hunk offered.

Lance nodded and Hunk wrapped him in a big, warm hug. 

"Don't worry, Lance. We'll get Keith back."

Lance took a deep breath and pulled away. "I get to be in charge this time. I don't want someone else getting captured."

Hunk smiled. "Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh sorry the last half isn't edited. I'll go back to fix any mistakes later, I'm just super exhausted now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I know it's cheesy and not great, but I'm trying. I'm not the best writer, but I really like writing, so I hope you enjoy my story anyway. I have more that I'll post before long. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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